The Red Wings need stars. Specifically, they need stars from within, the kind of stars they haven’t produced in a while.
Dylan Larkin is close. Anthony Mantha is, too. 21-year-old Filip Zadina is close to being close, and this could be the season that he closes that gap.
“He looks great,” Larkin told the Stoney & Jansen Show Tuesday, with the Red Wings set to open play on Thursday. "He looks confident, which he always has, but the one thing I’ve noticed more is just his puck pursuit. When he doesn’t have it, he’s all over it.”
This is a habit that’s been missing from Zadina’s game. He’s been prone to drifting without the puck through his first two stints in Detroit. He was better in this regard last year and this year he looks better still. It helps that he spent most of the fall playing in the top professional league in the Czech Republic.
In the Red Wings' final intrasquad scrimmage of training camp last Sunday, Larkin said Zadina "stripped guys four or five times where I was like, ‘Wow, that was a heck of a play.’”
In the past, Jeff Blashill has called for Zadina to be more involved on a shift-to-shift basis. More of a difference-maker up and down the ice. Blashill saw what he’s been looking for when he watched the former sixth overall pick during his loan to HC Ocelari Trine. With a new hunger for the puck, Zadina put up eight goals and 14 points in 17 games for the top team in the league.
“His puck battles were real good and it’s carried forward,” Blashill said Sunday. “I think he’s learned how important it is to be a guy who goes and gets the puck himself and not wait for other guys to do that. If you win pucks, you get the puck more and you get to play way more offense.”
Offense, of course, is the key to Zadina’s game. It didn’t come easy for him in his first pro season in North America, not the way it did when he scored 44 goals in Quebec Major Junior in his draft year. It doesn’t come easy for anyone in the NHL. That was a lesson Zadina had to learn on his own.
He was better for it last year. He earned his first prolonged stint with the Red Wings and produced eight goals and 15 points in 28 games — a near-25 goal pace over a full season. A sniper by trade, Zadina's poised to improve that pace this year, starting on Detroit’s second line with Robby Fabbri and Bobby Ryan.
"When he doesn’t have the puck he’s really worked on having a bigger impact on the ice. I know what he can do when he has it and I think a lot of people know. So I’m excited for him,” Larkin said. “I think it could be a breakout year for him.”
Larkin, likely to be named the Red Wings’ captain before the season-opener, also has high hopes for his linemates in Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi. He said Bertuzzi looks “stronger on the puck” and Mantha has improved his conditioning.
“Those guys look like they’ve matured more, or they’ve gained the experience where they look like budding NHL stars,” Larkin said. “It’s exciting to see. Hopefully we can all stay together this year, stay healthy and have a big year for our hockey team.”
The playoffs remain a long-shot for the rebuilding Wings, but Larkin is entering the season with renewed hope.
"Every year you go into a season you want to make the playoffs," he said. "For me, I think with the guys we have, you want to be realistic and you want to have a positive attitude, I do feel like we could be a playoff team and be right there."